by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Cream Ridge, NJ — New Jersey celebrates June as the month of the horse and Fair Winds Farm got into the holiday spirit and threw open their doors to the public on Sunday (June 29).

Dr. Patricia Hogan welcomes visitors to her clinic at the Fair Winds Farm Open House.

Well over 200 people were in attendance, a mix of local residents curious about the farm and its equine inhabitants, 4H Club members and horse lovers. Close to half of the visitors were school-aged children.

Dr. Patricia Hogan opened her surgical clinic on Fair Winds’ grounds and demonstrated the X-ray, arthroscopic and ultrasound machines to packed crowds who came in three shifts throughout the afternoon. Visitors also learned how horses are hoisted on the operating table and how they recover from injuries and go on to race.

The “white colt,” White Bliss, now in training with the Ake Svanstedt Stable, came back to his place of birth for the day, and though he was less white with each roll in the paddock, was eager to show off a bit, cavorting around his paddock and going up to the fence to say hello.

USTA/Ellen Harvey photos

Retired trotter Independent Act was a goodwill ambassador at the Fair Winds Farm Open House.

Suzanne D’Ambrose brought her retired trotter, Independent Act, who is now a successful Western pleasure horse, and who had the fingerprints of hundreds of visitors on him by the end of the day. He stood patiently for three hours of brushing and petting by visitors from infancy to senior citizen status.

Farrier Tom Mulryne gave some equine pedicures for visitors, who also got to see a display for the various types of hay and grain that Fair Winds horses consume. The paddocks around the farm were full of mares and foals. Representatives from the USTA, New Jersey Farm Bureau, NJ Horse Council, FFA, Harness Horse Youth Foundation and the Rutgers University Equine Science Program were on hand as well.

Local political leaders Nancy Grbelja, Ron Dancer and Lilliam Burry also spoke about the importance of horses to the New Jersey economy.